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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Mehdi Hasan On Anti-Semitism Within The British Muslim Community

Muslim writer Mehdi Hasan dares to discuss the rampant anti-Semitism within the British Muslim community. He uses Labour peer Nazir Ahmed- who in 2012 blamed 'the Jews' for his 12 week prison stay after being convicted of reckless driving after killing a man on the M1 several years prios- as an example of:

It pains me to have to admit this but anti-Semitism isn’t just tolerated in some sections of the British Muslim community; it’s routine and commonplace. Any Muslims reading this article – if they are honest with themselves – will know instantly what I am referring to. It’s our dirty little secret. You could call it the banality of Muslim anti-Semitism.

I can’t keep count of the number of Muslims I have come across – from close friends and relatives to perfect strangers – for whom weird and wacky anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are the default explanation for a range of national and international events. Who killed Diana and Dodi? The Mossad, say many Muslims. They didn’t want the British heir to the throne having an Arab stepfather. What about 9/11? Definitely those damn Yehudis. I mean, why else were 4,000 Jews in New York told to stay home from work on the morning of 11 September 2001? How about the financial crisis? Er, Jewish bankers. Obviously. Oh, and the Holocaust? Don’t be silly. Never happened.

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It is sheer hypocrisy for Muslims to complain of Islamophobia in every nook and cranny of British public life, to denounce the newspapers for running Muslim-baiting headlines, and yet ignore the rampant anti-Semitism in our own backyard. We cannot credibly fight Islamophobia while making excuses for Judaeophobia.

Of course, it's not just Muslims who blame everything on the Jews and Zionists- we have our own Jew-blamers right here in the U.S. Many of them are conservatives, conspiracy theorists, and most likely Christians. Take Arizona Republican Mike Harris who blamed the Mossad and Israeli death squads for the Sandy Hook Massacre. Just one of many bizarre conspiracy theories out there.